New York State has allowed each school district to devise
its own plan for reopening, as long as they meet stringent safety measures for
preventing transmission of COVID-19.
Complying with state requirements, explained the PoughkeeepsieJournal, schools will conduct a daily health screening for students before
they leave home each day, most likely in the form of an email to parents with a
form to fill out. Students exhibiting any COVID-19-related symptoms will not be
allowed to attend school. Each school building must have an isolation room to
accommodate any student or staff member who develops symptoms during the school
day.
Students riding buses will wear masks and maintain social
distancing. A 68-passenger bus will carry only about 22 passengers, although
students from the same household can sit together. Bus schedules will have to
be staggered, and times for arrival and dismissal will be adjusted to maintain
social distancing.
If a school has an outbreak of COVID-19, school districts
will coordinate with the county health department to discuss closing the
schools, which would return students to remote learning.
The Hyde Park Central School District’s version of the
hybrid model will split students into two groups, each group in school two days
per week and at home participating in remote learning the other three days.
Parents may opt for exclusively remote learning if they
don’t want their children in physical classrooms due to the risk of COVID-19.
At a school board meeting, Superintendent of Schools Aviva Kafka reported that
75.7% of parents who participated in a survey said they will send their
children back to school, while 24.3% said they will not.
“Unfortunately our teachers can’t be in two places at
once,” Kafka said. "When they are at school they are not available
full-time to the students that are remote full-time. So [parents] should look
carefully when making the decisions to forgo hybrid learning," except for
children whose health puts them at high risk regarding COVID-19.
Remote learning will include live teaching once a day, and
teachers will maintain a daily office hour for questions and support. Secondary
students will meet twice a week for live learning in core subjects, whether
online or in person.
According to a posting on the Wappingers Central School
District, they plan to reopen school remotely/virtually for the month of
September and begin with a phase-in model of allowing students to enter school
on a hybrid schedule during the month of October. During the transition
from fully remote learning to hybrid instruction our parents will have a choice
to continue remotely or with the hybrid model.
Check your individual school district’s website for details
on returning to school.